Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

Ron Paul Wants His MTV

Or his own TV station, at least. Ron Paul is apparently launching his own TV station, though there are few details available and I suspect it will be online only. The Ron Paul Channel is supposed to launch this summer sometime and you can sign up for details about it. The Hill has a brief report on it:

“This project provides us a wonderful opportunity to spread the message of liberty,” Paul says in a promotional video displayed on the new channel’s homepage.

Dubbed the “exclusive channel to the truth,” the outlet touts itself as an “innovative and interactive channel” that will feature “breaking news stories, interviews with influential headliners, and hard-hitting reporting.”

Maybe they can give Gary North, the director of curriculum for Ron Paul’s homeschooling program, his own show. Maybe a reality show where he can stone people off the island, since he has advocating stoning as the perfect solution for sin and crime.

I’d just like to point out that this phenomenon, politicians who create their own media presence or use FOX News as a vehicle to expand their media presence appears to be a majority conservative problem. If for instance Senator Al Franken wanted to start his own media empire he could probably do it in a heartbeat, and it would be slick, well produced and fucking funny. But he doesn’t. Heck, he rarely even does interviews. Why not? I hope its because he’s a SITTING US SENATOR with a SHITLOAD of work he should be doing rather than shameless self promotion.

Meanwhile Sun News Network, an attempt to create a home grown Canadian version of Fox News, is in dire straits. The network tried to convince the CRTC, Canada’s broadcast regulator, to make it a mandatory carry network, one that would be a part of all basic cable packages in the country, instead of a channel customers hat to deliberately subscribe to. This would also have given them a guaranteed chuck of the cable revenue stream. Their current voluntary subscriber base isn’t large enough to keep them in business. The CRTC declined. Funny to see unregulated marketplace fanboys trying to escape the dictates of the marketplace with government help.

Ron will want to keep an eye on this. I read recently that bitcoin proponents are against fiat currencies because they have arbitrary, irrational and volatile value. Well, according to the article, the value of a bit coin has had a spread;

“$6.56 on average between September 2011 and September 2012, they were valued Tuesday at $95.30 each.”